The Think Agencyhttp://thethinkagency.com
Marketing and Web Services in Boulder, Denver, and ClevelandWed, 08 Jul 2015 20:37:48 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3Get (Google) Mobile Friendly or Suffer the Search Consequenceshttp://thethinkagency.com/get-google-mobile-friendly-or-suffer-the-search-consequences/
http://thethinkagency.com/get-google-mobile-friendly-or-suffer-the-search-consequences/#commentsTue, 31 Mar 2015 15:59:17 +0000http://thethinkagency.com/?p=2261Google’s new mobile friendly ranking algorithm will be launching on April 21st. This is big news if you care about search and being found. Which is 99% of us.

This isn’t the first time that Google has changed their search algorithm, and it surely won’t be the last – so why is it such a big deal now? The simple answer is this: if your site is not “mobile friendly,” your search standing will be greatly impacted. Conversely, if your site is mobile friendly, this is an opportunity for you to move up at the expense of others.

The new algorithm checks your site – all of it – and either gives you a “yes” or “no” for each section being mobile friendly. Let’s repeat that – there is no degree of being mobile friendly in Google world – you either are or you are not. This may seem overly harsh but it is easy to do when you are, in essence, the only game in town when it comes to search (all due respect to the many Bing product placements).

But what is mobile friendly? That’s a good question that you will want someone with Web expertise to help you with. It is not a mobile site or even necessarily a responsive site. It is still early in the process, but Google is talking it upon itself to define what is mobile friendly and what is not.

We spend a great deal of time blogging for numerous clients to create thought leadership and drive search results through the interspersing of key terms within each blog. It is a great deal of work, and our “page one” status is in jeopardy without making these changes.

Starting April 21st Google will be rolling out the new algorithm. If you do not meet Google’s standard of being mobile friendly, some tweaks to your website can quickly change that.

]]>http://thethinkagency.com/get-google-mobile-friendly-or-suffer-the-search-consequences/feed/0Social Media in a B2B Worldhttp://thethinkagency.com/social-media-in-a-b2b-world/
http://thethinkagency.com/social-media-in-a-b2b-world/#commentsMon, 30 Mar 2015 16:45:53 +0000http://thethinkagency.com/?p=2265One of the questions I get most from clients and people I meet at networking events is “What should I be doing on social media?”

There are factors to consider but the first question you should ask yourself is – who is my audience, and what do I want them to do? Is your audience other businesses or consumers? Are you selling services that require building thought leadership or do you have a commodity that requires top-of-mind presence at all times because you just never know when the buying decision happens? There are a lot of options, but for most small businesses it comes down to three platforms:

Facebook
If you are a business-to-consumer venture or you need to reach the general public with your message, by all means build and maintain a robust Facebook presence. But Think’s clients are typically business-to-business making the effectiveness of Facebook nominal. When people are on Facebook they are separating from their work life, making it a tough spot to reach business buyers – but a great place to reach consumers. Keep in mind that even if your company is B2B, Facebook can help when people research your business. For some, not existing on Facebook might mean you do not exist to them at all.

Twitter
It is easy to understand why Twitter has become so popular amongst everyone, including businesses. It is easy to get up and running on Twitter quickly and it certainly feeds the ego when you are favorite or retweeted. Add to this the fact that you can display a Twitter feed on your own website and it can be positively intoxicating. But is it effective? Remember what we said up front – consider your audience and outcomes desired. If you are looking to drive awareness, personal or corporate, Twitter is effective. But it has limits, you cannot drive thought leadership in 140 characters. If your service is complex, your tweets should be links to articles with a sentence of commentary from yourself or better yet links to your own blogs.

LinkedIn
I had an interesting conversation with a new client who is in love with Twitter. Did I say conversation? It was more of a spirited debate as I espoused the importance of LinkedIn for B2B marketing and she considered LinkedIn a platform simply to look for or be ready for your next job. More than job posts and networking, LinkedIn serves as a repository for business articles and smart businesses (like our clients) are using it to promote thought leadership. You are able to do this through your own company page, forums, or by targeting a list of your prospects with a pay campaign that can get you in front of the level of the professionals in your specific geographies.

But don’t take my word for it. Recently eMarketer reported on the effectiveness of B2B social media. An astounding 94% of B2B marketers in North America use LinkedIn to distribute content and nearly two-thirds (63%) consider it effective. Compare that with 55% and 32% of B2B marketers considering Twitter and Facebook effective respectively.

Finally a word about YouTube, the leading video social media platform in terms of effectiveness. Remember all that talk about Google’s search algorithms? Don’t forget who owns YouTube – Google. And yes, having a YouTube video on your site boosts your search effectiveness. The Think Agency partners with Think Media Studios and would encourage you to look at their portfolio.

There are two incredibly important action items to remember once you have set up your social media accounts: updating with consistency and monitoring your results. It makes no sense and frustrates your target audience if you set up a social media account and let it sit dormant. Monitor your accounts so you know what is working and keep at it.

In the meantime, if you need assistance with implementing the right social media strategy, contact us and we would be happy to help. Often this strategy involves blogging, which has the added impact of driving search success.

]]>http://thethinkagency.com/social-media-in-a-b2b-world/feed/0Is Your Message on Point?http://thethinkagency.com/is-your-message-on-point/
http://thethinkagency.com/is-your-message-on-point/#commentsFri, 18 May 2012 17:18:39 +0000http://thethinkagency.com/?p=2274Most organizations message by the seat of their pants. When you’re creating communications, are you making it up as you go along or has your organization taken the time to establish the messaging foundation to ensure do you have a clearly crafted message? Every marketing effort – be it a new website, collateral, direct marketing, or a press release needs to be aligned with your company’s core message. But first… it needs to be defined. Clearly communicate what makes you and your offerings unique – consistently, across your entire organization.

When you’re creating communications, are you making it up as you go along or has your organization taken the time to establish the messaging foundation to ensure do you have a clearly crafted message? Most organizations find themselves constantly going through cycles, recreating the message for whatever happens to be the hot topic of the week.

Think recommends that before you take even one more step with marketing, branding, etc. that your organization partner with us to develop a “message platform.” This, including your value proposition and differentiators serves as the foundation for all external communications. It is developed by conducting individual interviews among company leadership, customers, and customers.

The message platform helps get everyone on the same page – from how to communicate overall value, to specific offerings and what makes them compelling to target audiences. The platform is used for collateral, website materials, letters, and direct mail.

Request examples…. Then put a place for someone to enter their name, company, email, and industry.

]]>http://thethinkagency.com/is-your-message-on-point/feed/0Much more than bells, whistles… and pretty pictures.http://thethinkagency.com/much-more-than-bells-whistles-and-pretty-pictures/
http://thethinkagency.com/much-more-than-bells-whistles-and-pretty-pictures/#commentsFri, 18 May 2012 16:52:25 +0000http://thethinkagency.com/?p=2269Yeah… we design and build websites – but there’s no shortage of organizations that do that. Think actually takes a look at your website and integrates it into your online strategy, making sure that your website is creating opportunities for you and your business. Yes, your website is your first impression… but you don’t even get to make that first impression if you can’t drive traffic to your site… and demonstrate your expertise in clear, precise messaging when they arrive.

Think takes a holistic approach to your website efforts. We stand behind our build and design expertise as rivaling sites you receive from large agencies… at a fraction of the cost.

But more importantly, we’ve developed a process that helps ensure your web efforts drive real ROI.

Think takes the lead in writing and editing all website prose with succinct, clear, and compelling communications, including more effectively communicating the benefits of your solutions and portraying differentiators.

Each and every website we develop is fully expandable and flexible so your website can “evolve” rather than needing to be replaced.

]]>http://thethinkagency.com/much-more-than-bells-whistles-and-pretty-pictures/feed/0Google Says Content, Not Tricks Is the Key to Optimizationhttp://thethinkagency.com/google-says-content-not-tricks-is-the-key-to-optimization/
http://thethinkagency.com/google-says-content-not-tricks-is-the-key-to-optimization/#commentsThu, 03 May 2012 17:22:41 +0000http://thethinkagency.com/?p=2277Last week Google announced a long overdue change in its search algorithm, designed to penalize “over-optimization.” What does over-optimization mean? Well, as a firm that avoid the use of tricks, favoring content to drive traffic – I can tell you that if you’ve been in marketing for more than a week, you’ve gotten a call from a firm that specializes in this.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firms charge big bucks for monthly services that include creating thousands of fake landing pages, creating “ping-backs” by commenting on other posts, and a number of other nefarious, but previously effective tactics.

So what is Google rewarding with the coveted top spots on searches? Content. They will be rewarding organizations that are “making great sites for users, not just algorithms.”

This trend is not new, but it is nice to get a rare peak behind the mysterious Google curtain as their comments make their recent trend into an “official” position. You can read about the changes by clicking here.

This is fantastic for our clients and, quite frankly, a trend we’ve been seeing for years, albeit unofficial and never made public in the way Google did last week. It is high-quality content and smart, targeted optimization that gets results. Stay away from the tricks.

Including a Google xml sitemap so Google and other engines automatically see new pages

Backlinks from relevant sites – leverage your partners and help each other

Most importantly, your website is not a brochure that you print, put aside for a year and then refresh.Blogging on your site creates new, fresh content with keywords that will drive traffic. In this case, I want people looking for effective Google search tactics, websites that drive traffic, and Google search best practices.

Let us know how we can help you effectively drive traffic to your site – no tricks, just solid content. Another benefit of content over tricks? Tricks never strengthened a brand or created thought leadership the way blogs do.

]]>http://thethinkagency.com/google-says-content-not-tricks-is-the-key-to-optimization/feed/0Have Business, Have Website… Have Leads?http://thethinkagency.com/have-business-have-website-have-leads/
http://thethinkagency.com/have-business-have-website-have-leads/#commentsThu, 22 Mar 2012 17:29:41 +0000http://thethinkagency.com/?p=2280eMarketer reports this week that the corporate website is second only to referrals in terms of lead generation for B2B firms. Yet more than 4 out of 5 (84%) said that their website was not performing to their expectations in terms of generating leads. And not just leads, but quality leads.

Well, what do we expect? As B2B organizations, we typically take our website for granted. We build it, make updates every once in a while… maybe when Bob quits or Jane joins the company we update it, or maybe even throw up a press release.

What do you WANT your website to be? If it is simply a brochure on the Internet, then you can leave it alone, wait for your sales reps to point people to the site… and cross your fingers that it supports your efforts.

OR you can look at a website as what it should be – a lead generation engine. This takes time and investment. The type of time that I am taking to write this blog for example. Writing blogs, creating content is the number one way to drive traffic to your site. And not just traffic – qualified leads. Individuals who are searching on the topic that you are writing about.

In this case, Think builds websites, and ensures their high performance and ROI over time by regularly “ghost” blogging for our clients – creating thought leadership and more importantly, incoming leads. A website should be delivering sales opportunities. If yours isn’t, you have work to do. And I get it – no one wants more work… but we want and NEED sales. You work at getting sales… right?

This requires offering compelling, free content in the form of blogs, white papers, and e-newsletters – and sometimes requiring registration for access.

]]>http://thethinkagency.com/have-business-have-website-have-leads/feed/0Blogging with SEO in Mindhttp://thethinkagency.com/blogging-with-seo-in-mind/
http://thethinkagency.com/blogging-with-seo-in-mind/#commentsSat, 03 Mar 2012 17:35:52 +0000http://thethinkagency.com/?p=2283Blogging is a fantastic way to create value to your website customers. But there is another major plus of online blogs – they naturally attract search engine traffic. Blogs already have optimized site architecture – meaning the way they are setup (or should be setup if done properly) makes them highly visibly and indexed by search engines. Most are set up with a clear navigation, where every page is set up to link back to the other main pages. They also have the inherent potential to be well-linked.

Blog Directories and Site Submission

If you haven’t already submitted your blog to some free directories, you are missing out on some great one-way links. But before you start searching for them and submitting, you should know a a few tips on how to optimize your blog. Then your new articles can help your site get the best keyword placement in the major search engines.

Blogs and SEO – Keywords

You have a choice to make. You can target a really general high traffic keyword you have little chance of ranking well for and get barely any traffic. Or you can shoot for a keyword that gets a moderate level of targeted traffic resulting in more leads and sales. They may not get you the most traffic, but they often bring the most profit. Keywords like this can be determined using any number of traffic estimating tools out there. The good ones also show the level of competition for any given keyword.

More Web Site Traffic and More Sales? Not Always

You may be surprised to learn that there isn’t always a correlation between high traffic and high sales. Many of the most profitable sites in the world get moderate traffic because their lucrative keywords result in a much higher ratio of visitors to buyers. Keep this in mind when writing blog articles and target more specific keyword strings when possible. Adding a local spin to your blog titles and content may be that difference. For example instead of targeting “Nike Shoes” if you target “Ottawa Nike Shoe Store” you will get much less traffic, but anyone who does find it and clicks on it surely is a highly targeted user.

Length of Search Query is a Factor

A recent article in Information Week stated that the highest conversion rates from search engine traffic comes from people who do four word queries. The great thing about your blog is that it can get so well-indexed that you have the potential to show up for any number of four word phrases that are relevant to your industry.

Target Your Blog for More Traffic and Sales

Targeting your blog discussion to a two or three word phrase that has a high yield of traffic, and yet has little competition, is not a dream of past Internet days. Another recent study revealed that surprisingly high percentages of search engine queries debuted as late as 2004. As long as there are new developments, new products, services and trends, you’ll never have a shortage of these terms if you learn how to discover them.

]]>http://thethinkagency.com/blogging-with-seo-in-mind/feed/0wwwhat happened… wwwhere is my website?http://thethinkagency.com/wwwhat-happened-wwwhere-is-my-website/
http://thethinkagency.com/wwwhat-happened-wwwhere-is-my-website/#commentsSat, 25 Feb 2012 17:40:13 +0000http://thethinkagency.com/?p=2286The other day I was looking at some prospects based off of email addresses… I could copy and paste the information after the “@” and put it in my browser. You know what I found? A lot? NOTHING. As a marketing professional, I have always been aware that just because you have registered your “www” address, it doesn’t mean that the Inter-Web can find your site without the www. For example, some people may enter www.thethinkagency.com and some may enter thethinkagency.com… both should resolve and go to the same site.

However, from my completely unscientific research, I would say that about 15 of the 50 sites I was looking up did NOT work without the www. Granted, I was looking at sites for small to medium sized businesses, but this is an awfully high number.

I am not going to dive too deep into what is going on here as it is the foolish marketing person who tries to get into a DNS discussion, but needless to say, the fix is to have your “websitename.com” redirected to the www version of your website. This is described nicely (in that it gives your favorite tech person a way to fix it) in the following article.

Bottom line for marketers – when someone knows your URL and takes the effort to get to your site – don’t make it look like you don’t have your act together… or worst case, have gone out of business.

]]>http://thethinkagency.com/wwwhat-happened-wwwhere-is-my-website/feed/0Confessions of a Contrarionhttp://thethinkagency.com/confessions-of-a-contrarion/
http://thethinkagency.com/confessions-of-a-contrarion/#commentsTue, 17 Jan 2012 17:44:31 +0000http://thethinkagency.com/?p=2289I was in a public setting the other day when I was reminded just how much I… and I realize this is going out on a limb given where I live… dislike Ohio State and their fans. (Please Note: This is meant to be satire, of course there is no actual dislike for OSU fans… OSU… well maybe.)

You see, “The” Ohio State University’s fans are – from an outsider’s perspective… obnoxious, arrogant, and a stranger to reality. Reality: you got off easy, quit whining. They look at the world through one perspective, and one perspective only. It is the attitude that makes “The” a point of emphasis when people refer to the school as The Ohio State University.

Prior to living in Ohio, I spent 13 years in Connecticut where… get this… women’s (and to a lesser degree men’s) college basketball was seen as be all, end all, most infallible, least questioned institution since Newt was asked his opinion on Reagonomics.

This is all strange for a native of Indiana, where you grow up in an environment where – gasp – there are two different sides of the coin. You either liked IU or Purdue… and every day you had to coexist with people who had different opinions than you did. You had to coexist, respect someone else’s opinion, and sometimes even (attempt to) have civil discourse.

I guess growing up in an environment where a “one size fits all” mentality when it comes to rooting interests is beneficial… and it has nothing to do with sports.

In business, in marketing… it is imperative that different voices be welcomed, fostered, and never… never see one solution or one person as “THE” anything. That’s why I always tell my employees that they must feel free to speak their mind. You never know where good ideas may come from – but I’m pretty sure new ideas will be stymied if anything is ever seen as “the” way.

Don’t be afraid to be challenged, it doesn’t mean the Buckeyes are any worse for it!

]]>http://thethinkagency.com/confessions-of-a-contrarion/feed/0Marketing to Today’s Tech Savvy Exechttp://thethinkagency.com/marketing-to-todays-tech-savvy-exec/
http://thethinkagency.com/marketing-to-todays-tech-savvy-exec/#commentsSat, 26 Nov 2011 17:48:56 +0000http://thethinkagency.com/?p=2292In 2011, and soon to be 2012, it is all of our jobs to take a step back and ask – how do I reach my customers? Where do we find our audience? The days of trade magazines being the key to unlocking B2B opportunities has clearly passed. So… today, where can we find buyers?

eMarketer provides us some insights with some numbers that I thought low (only 3 out of 4 watching HD TV and less than 1 out of 3 going to a social networking site) and some numbers, as a marketer, I’m thrilled to see are higher than I expected. The implications of many of these could be key to how your business raptures sales in 2012, let’s take a look at just a few…

Smartphones and Tablets
Is your website smartphone and tablet ready? With 70 percent and 40 percent accessing content from a smartphone and tablet respectively, the time is now to make sure your website works for these devices. Your only chance to capture market share may depend on a visit to your site on an iPhone… how do you like your chances?

Online Video
Nearly half of executives are watching video on a website. While Google is making videos a key to driving traffic to a site, ranking sites with videos much higher than those without, an online video may not only be the best way to get someone to your site – but the best way to make sales. Videos can help make your message much more compelling. Capturing an audience for 1-5 minutes is like getting a five minute uninterrupted pitch. But don’t go it halfway with a video – just pointing and shooting will not create an effective sales tool – and can actually do more harm than good by making your operation look amateur. Invest in professional video shooting and editing – you’ll be quick to find a payback.

Blogs
We’ve espoused the benefits of blogs just from the pragmatic, content creation and search engine optimization benefits – but the number of blog readers is growing rapidly. In single digits in 2010, the number of executives reading blogs on a regular basis is now at 22%. Whether your target audience reads your blogs or not, they separate you from your competitors by demonstrating thought leadership and creating a trust relationship. By providing advice, insights, and (sometimes) opinions, your organization can develop deeper relationships faster.

So as you plan to reach your target audience in 2012, take a minute to ask – where is my audience… and when they are there, am I capitalizing on the opportunity to impress?